Device for orienting eggs and bringing them with the narrow end downwards into transport means having receiving pockets

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device in which eggs are conveyed on a conveyor having a plurality of parallel rollers, all rotating in the same direction to a transport means having receiving pockets. Each egg is carried by two rollers and moves laterally to the conveying direction in the direction of its narrow end until it comes up against a lateral defining wall. The eggs are thus lined up according to the position of the narrow end and the air chamber end. Guide tongues are provided to reorient the eggs as they pass over a conveyor deflection roller so that they turn with their narrow ends pointing downwardly into the receiving pockets of the transport means.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Heinrichlfiodt Bad Salzuflen; Kurtllermaneler, Obernbeek; Karl-Heinz Northoll, Hertord, all of, Germany[2|] Appl. No. 832,401 (22] Filed June 11,1969 [45] Patented July 13,I97! (73] Assignees Henry Y. Kali;

Paul R. Knhl Flemlngton, NJ. [32] Priority June 19, I968 [33] Germany[31] Pl76l636.3

[54] DEVICE FOR ORIENTING EGGS AND BRINGING THEM WITH THE NARROW ENDDOWNWARDS INTO TRANSPORT MEANS HAVING RECEIVING ROCKETS 3 Claims, 4Drawing Figs.

[52] 0.8. CL... 198/33 [SI] Int. Cl 865g 47/24 50] Field oISearch...198/33 R; 356l57-58 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS3,217,857 1/1965 Ellis 198/33 R Primary Examiner Edward A. SrokaAttorney-McGlew and Toren ABSTRACT: The invention relates to a device inwhich eggs are conveyed on a conveyor having a plurality of parallelrollers, all rotating in the same direction to a transport means havingreceiving pockets. Each egg is carried by two rollers and moveslaterally to the conveying direction in the direction of its narrow enduntil it comes up against a lateral defining wall. The eggs are thuslined up according to the position of the narrow end and the air chamberendv Guide tongues are provided to reorient the eggs as they pass over aconveyor deflection roller so that they turn with their narrow endspointing downwardly into the receiving pockets of the transportmeans.

PATENTEU JUUSIBY. 27

SHEEI 1 BF 2 INVINTQRS HEI NRI LH KocH KvlT Hqnmnnek KRL- HIINI mama" BY975W M 71;...

TTORNEY.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the storage of eggs it is usual with aview to improving storage life to store them with the narrow endpointing downwards, because then the air chamber end of the eggs comesto lie above the content of the egg. This position is quite difficult toachieve in the case of mechanical packing, and hitherto it was alwayssought to achieve it by use of the center of gravity of the egg.

The oldest known method makes use of a vertical shaft formed from twoconverging plates in which the egg to be oriented, being held at itslargest periphery. slides downwards in such a way that the narrow end inthis case tilts downwards by reason of the position of the center ofgravity. Then the egg is liberated by mechanical widening of the platespacing and drops into the receiving pocket in the desired position. Inpractice however this action does not always proceed satisfactorily, onaccount of unavoidable effects of friction influences or othertroublesome forces, so that there is no guarantee of a reliable mannerofoperation.

A more recent device, by means of which the drawbacks occurring were tobe eliminated, permitted the eggs, oriented with the aid of rotatingrollers, to tilt out of the horizontal position over a transverse rod,whereupon, again corresponding to the position of the center of gravity,they fell with the narrow end downwards between two receiving platesserving for further guidance into the receiving pockets. In thisconnection, however the quite considerable stressing of the eggs,leading to damage, had an unfavorable effect. so that this design alsowas not without disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide adevice in which the eggs can be conducted reliably with the narrow endpointing downwards into the receiving pockets of any desired transportmeans, and can receive very gentle handling. Moreover, reliance upon theegg size and upon the egg shape within certain limits is to be avoided,which hitherto frequently gave rise to difficulties.

According to the invention, there is provided a device for orientingeggs and introducing them with their narrow ends pointing downwards intotransport means having receiving pockets comprising an endless conveyorhaving a plurality of parallel rollers rotating in the same directionwhen in the conveying path of said conveyor, each egg being supported bytwo of said rollers, lateral defining walls extending in the conveyingdirection above said rollers against which the narrow ends of the eggsengage as a result of lateral movement of the eggs relative to theconveying direction, a forward deflecting roller for said conveyor towhich said eggs, oriented in rows according to the position of theirnarrow ends and their air chamber ends, are guided by said definingwalls and at which said eggs are transferred from said conveyor to saidtransport means, elastic guide tongues situated in the region of saiddeflecting roller. arranged transversely thereof and pointed counter tosaid conveying direction and means for clamping said tongues only attheir upper ends, the tongues acting to hold back said eggs so as tocause said eggs to turn themselves, as they pass said deflecting roller,with their narrow end pointing downwards into said receiving pockets ofsaid transport means which arrive in readiness beneath said tongues.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of the invention willnow be described in greater detail, by way of example with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I shows a plan view ofa device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic lateral elevation of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross section, represented without eggs, along the lineAB in FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 shows a partial elevation, reproducing the operational conditionwith eggs, of the cross section shown in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT According to FIGS. l and 2 thedevice shown therein com prises an endless conveyor I which is composedmainly of parallel rollers 2 which are rotatably connected at their endswith the chains 3. Stationary tracks 4 are provided in the upper run ofthe conveyor I. on which tracks the rollers 2 roll in the clockwisedirection during their forward movement. At the rear end eggs 6 aresupplied to this conveyor I by way of chutes 5, which eggs come to lieon the conveyor each being supported by two rollers 2. Under the effectof the rotating movements of the rollers 2 in the same direction. theeggs 6 then travel in the direction of their narrow ends until they comeinto contact with the lateral defining walls 8 extending above therollers 2 in the conveying direction 7. Thus firstly orientation of theeggs 6 is effected in rows according to the position of the narrow endand the air chamber end, whereupon they are fed to the forwarddeflecting roller 9 of the conveyor.

After the deflecting roller 9 is reached, transference of the eggs 6 tothe receiving pockets I0 of the adjoining transport means II is toproceed in such a manner that the eggs 6 assume a position in thereceiving pockets 10 where their narrow ends point downwards. This isachieved in the main by means of elastic guide tongues 14 clamped onlyat their upper edges in retainers [2 on the transverse bar I3, whichtongues are situated transversely in the region of and transversely tothe deflecting roller 9 of the conveyor I. Furthermore they are pointedcounter to the conveying direction 7 and are at such a distance from theadjoining defining walls 8 that the eggs 6 arriving in oriented fashionon the rollers 2 are held back by them at the air chamber end, and thusduring passage past the deflecting roller 9 turn with the narrow endpointing downwards into the receiving pockets 10 which arrive readybeneath the guide tongues I4. This action may be seen from FIGS. 1. 2and 4, while FIG. 3 shows the guide tongues I4 in the rest position.

FIGS. I and 4 especially show clearly what effects the guide tongues 14.produced from sheet metal or synthetic plastics material, have upon theeggs 6. Thus it can be seen that the eggs 6 contacted by the guidetongues 14 at the air chamber end are pivoted with the narrow endforwards by means of the rollers 2 which continue to move onwards, whilethe inwardly bent lower ends of the defining walls 6 guide their narrowends into the receiving pockets 10. The eggs 6, which are mostlysomewhat wider in cross section. then press the guide tongue 14 aside bythe necessary amount and finally slide between it and the correspondingdefining wall 8 into the receiving pocket 10 intended for them, withoutin this action being subjected to any mechanical stressing whatever. Toassist in this guiding action, the lower edges of the defining walls 8are bent towards the guide tongues as shown.

As in the present case, the width of the orienting passages I5 formed bythe individual defining walls 8 is most ex pediently equal to twice thedistance of the guide tongues I4 from the defining walls 8, so that theguide tongues 14 divide the orienting passages 15 centrally and becomeeffective for the eggs 6 arriving on both sides thereof. Thus allreceiving pockets of the transport means II always fill up withoutforming gaps, which constitutes the prerequisite for continuousoperation.

The transport means I] receiving the eggs 6 after orientation consists.in the example as described, of the receiving pockets I0 arranged inrows which are mounted. suitably secured for displacement on constantlycirculating transverse rods 16 Moreover they are subject to theinfluence of longitudinal guides 17 which reduce the distance betweenthem in the manner visible from the drawing by such an amount that thesubsequent removal of the eggs 6 by means ofa suction head is renderedpossible. Likewise however, in modification of the device as reproduced,it is also readily conceivable to replace the transport means I] asshown here by packaging containers lying on a conveyor belt, which thuscould directly receive the eggs 6 delivered by the conveyor 1.

The progress achieved by the above-described device in comparison withthe prior art is to be seen primarily in that the newly developed deviceworks largely independently of the position of the center of gravity ofthe eggs, which imparts great functional reliability to it. Furthermoreit operates without any mechanical stressing of the egg surface andlikewise requires only quite low expense for construction, which makesits economical use possible.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

l. A device for orienting eggs and introducing them with their narrowends pointing downwards into transport means having receiving pocketscomprising an endless conveyor having a plurality of parallel :o!!::srotating in the same direction when in the conveying path of saidconveyor, each egg being supported by two of said rollers, lateraldefining walls extending in the conveying direction above said rollersagainst which the narrow ends of the eggs engage as a result of lateralmove ment of the eggs relative to the conveying direction, a forwarddeflecting roller for said conveyor to which said eggs, oriented in rowsaccording to the position of their narrow ends and their air chamberends, are guided by said defining walls and at which said eggs aretransferred from said conveyor to said transport means. elastic guidetongues situated in the region of said deflecting roller, arrangedtransversely thereof and pointed counter to said conveying direction andmeans for clamping said tongues only at their upper ends, the tonguesacting to hold back said eggs so as to cause said eggs to turnthemselves, as they pass said deflecting roller, with their narrow endpointing downwards into said receiving pockets of said transport meanswhich arrive in readiness beneath said tongues.

2. A device as set forth in claim I, wherein the individual definingwalls define between them orienting passages centrally divided by saidtongues which can thus act on eggs passing on either side of saidtongues.

3, A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said defining walls includedownwardly terminating ends bent towards said guide tongues so as toguide the narrow ends of the downwardly sliding eggs passing over thesaid deflecting roller into said receiving pocketsv

1. A device for orienting eggs and introducing them with their narrowends pointing downwards into transport means having receiving pocketscomprising an endless conveyor having a plurality of parallel rollersrotating in the same direction when in the conveying path of saidconveyor, each egg being supported by two of said rollers, lateraldefining walls extending in the conveying direction above said rollersagainst which the narrow ends of the eggs engage as a result of lateralmovement of the eggs relative to the conveying direction, a forwarddeflecting roller for said conveyor to which said eggs, oriented in rowsaccording to the position of their narrow ends and their air chamberends, are guided by said defining walls and at which said eggs aretransferred from said conveyor to said transport means, elastic guidetongues situated in the region of said deflecting roller, arrangedtransversely thereof and pointed counter to said conveying direction andmeans for clamping said tongues only at their upper ends, the tonguesacting to hold back said eggs so as to cause said eggs to turnthemselves, as they pass said deflecting roller, with their narrow endpointing downwards into said receiving pockets of said transport meanswhich arrive in readiness beneath said tongues.
 2. A device as set forthin claim 1, wherein the individual defining walls define between themorienting passages centrally divided by said tongues which can thus acton eggs passing on either side of said tongues.
 3. A device as set forthin claim 1, wherein said defining walls include downwardly terminatingends bent towards said guide tongues so as to guide the narrow ends ofthe downwardly sliding eggs passing over the said deflecting roller intosaid receiving pockets.